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An alternate take on the World of Northeast Conference Athletics

Bulldogs and Red Flash In Early Battle for NEC’s Most-Coveted Piece of Hardware

There’s still a long way to the finish line, but Bryant and Saint Francis U are once again in a battle for the coveted Brenda Weare Commissioner’s Cup.

With the 2014 fall season in the books, the NEC unveiled updated Commissioner’s Cup standings and the top-2 finishers from last year’s race are in familiar positions this time around.

When results from all seven fall sports are factored into the formula, Saint Francis U (67.23) emerges as the early leader with Bryant (60.65) well within striking distance.

Last year, Bryant (208.37) used a strong spring season to snag the Cup for the first time ever while SFU (193.93) took second in the overall rankings.

In terms of the 2014-15 races for the individual men’s and women’s Cups, Saint Francis U and Central Connecticut are the first out of the gate. SFU (34.93) has a slight lead over Bryant in the men’s Cup standings, while CCSU (33.08) is less than one full point ahead of SFU (32.30) in the women’s race.

Last year, Saint Francis U netted the second-highest score in program history on the women’s side to win the Joan Martin Commissioner’s Cup for the second year in a row and third time in school annals. With 123.48 points, the Red Flash won by a wide margin over LIU Brooklyn (108.36) and Sacred Heart (104.05). On the men’s side, Bryant amassed 110.20 points to win by a comfortable margin over Central Connecticut (88.18) and Sacred Heart (87.98).

The Northeast Conference will crown 15 more team champions during the 2014-15 academic year before awarding the Commissioner’s Cup.

Cup points are awarded in each NEC sponsored sport. For men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, football, women’s bowling, softball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, and baseball, the final regular season standings are used to determine Cup points. Starting with the 2012-13 season, the Conference began awarding three bonus points to the NEC Tournament champion in those sports. In all other sports, points are awarded based on the finish at NEC Championship events.